EDITOR’S NOTE: Superiorland Yesterdays is prepared by the reference staff at the Peter White Public Library in Marquette.

30 years ago

MICHIGAMME — It took two weeks and more than 770 truck-loads of rock to fill an abandoned mine shaft east of Michigamme and ease the concern of County Mine Inspector William Maki. “I was concerned because there is a roadside park just down the road,” said Maki, “but I can’t tell them to fill an abandoned mine, I can only make sure there is secure fencing around it.”

Cleveland Cliffs Inc. finished pouring rocks down the 610-foot Old Michigamme Mine, just west of a roadside park on U.S. 41, on Monday.

Although there had been no accidents or complaints at the open shaft, Maki said public safety is now ensured. He said he became concerned when a concrete cap over the 8- by 12-foot shaft broke apart. CCI decided to fill the hole instead of recapping it because it’s more permanent, said CCI spokesman Dale Hemmila. A fence posted with danger signs remains around the abandoned mine. The shaft was filled with the same rock taken out of the hole during operations.

90 years ago

MARQUETTE — Pathfinders for the Great Lakes air cruise, to be run in August, are due to arrive in Marquette at 6 p.m. today, traveling in three planes, two of them large amphibians and one a monoplane equipped with pontoons for landing on the water. The pathfinders will be met here by officers fo the Marquette Chamber of Commerce and will make arrangements with them for the reception of the cruise in August. Frank H. Heath, secretary of the Chamber, will have charge of the arrangements. He will greet the pathfinders upon their arrival here and it is expected that they will hold a conference at the Coast Guard station. From Marquette, they will fly to Houghton. Two of the pathfinding planes arrived in Sault Ste. Marie yesterday. One, an Eastman flying boat, was piloted by Lieutenant B.F. Halliburton and carried L.E. Johnson as mechanic. The other, a Fairchild monoplane, was piloted by Duke Schillar, famous flyer who recused the Bremen crew on Greenly Island. Others in the party are Charles E. Planck, publicity director for the air cruise, and a representative of the Detroit Times. Paul Strasburg, Detroit aviator, cruise referee; Wayne J. Sheldon, cruise commander, and Gar Wood, Detroit’s famous speed boat pilot, are expected to be with the pathfinding party when it arrived in Marquette.